Apple releases Mac OS X 10.6.5 with graphics fixes, no AirPrint

Get ready for a restart—Mac OS X 10.6.5 is now available via Software Update …

As expected, Apple has released Mac OS X 10.6.5, the fifth update to its Snow Leopard operating system. The update brings a number of fixes for a wide variety of issues, including printing problems, Exchange compatibility, and improved graphics drivers that "address stability and performance of graphics applications and games."

The maintenance release for Mac OS X touches on a wide variety of odds and ends. It addresses printing issues like delays between print jobs, connecting some HP printers to Airport base stations, and spacing of OpenType fonts. It addresses networking and syncing features such as improved Exchange compatibility, improved syncing between Address Book and Google Contacts, better performance with Active Directory, and reliability of Ethernet connections.

There are also a slew of graphics improvements. The update includes additional RAW profiles for newer digital cameras, improved performance for image processing in iPhoto and Aperture, and graphics driver improvements that should improve 3D graphics performance. These improvements could very well be the result of work between Valve, NVIDIA, and Apple to address the OpenGL performance gap between Windows and Mac OS X.

As mentioned earlier Wednesday, though, the update did not list compatibility for shared printers with iOS 4.2's coming AirPrint wireless printing technology. Developers using previous beta builds that did work previously say that it will continue to do so, but it won't work for users installing the final release version of 10.6.5 for the first time.

The update also includes security fixes, though information was not available at the time of publication. The 10.6.5 update is available now via Software Update, and should be available later today via Apple's Support Downloads page.

So... does this mean Ars actually TRIED it or are you just further propagating the rumor? I've seen several posts today from people who claim to have actually tried it with the release build of 10.6.5 and iOS 4.2GM who said AirPrint works. Not that their word is any better than the rumor itself. Should I not expect an Ars headline to be more reliable?

...and graphics driver improvements that should improve 3D graphics performance. These improvements could very well be the result of work between Valve, NVIDIA, and Apple to address the OpenGL performance gap between Windows and Mac OS X.

Does this mean updating from OpenGL 2.1 to something even in the same universe as modern? Current version of OpenGL is 4.1...

Looking forward to trying out StarCraft post update to see if there's any difference. Also hoping Mail will stop crashing at work if I've received more than a single email since I last quit it or checked for mail. :/

It actually does! At least menus seem to snap down faster. I've only been running for a few minutes now so who knows.

To be honest I don't really care about AirPrint at the moment, I'm actually hoping this corrects the scrolling issue the last update for the track pad caused on my early 2008 MBP. The functionality that brought to the track pad is not something I'm willing to give up but that bug cropping up was a real pain. Hopefully in an hour or so we will know for sure.

In any event back to the snappiness, I'm wondering if that might be the result of the graphics driver improvements. Scrolling is better than I've ever seen. Will see if any other improvements are noticeable.

If That is the combo update link from MacRumors don't use it that one was machine specific and gave many Kernel panics after rebooting. I have yet to see the Combo posted yet. Though I many have missed it.

Did the software update, got an error when installing. Machine was forced to reboot, thankfully everything seems fine. Funny thing is that it's the first time I've done a software update as I'm new to the Mac scene.

Those are the improvements in the pre-10.6.5 graphics update. According to posts on the Steam forums, there's been some improvements for Nvidia chips when using MSAA but other than that, no-one's seeing big changes so far.

Would it not make sense for AirPrint to be brought with iTunes 10.1 and iOS 4.2 rather than OSX 10.6.5? Earlier builds may have introduced the support because the iTunes builds were still being tweaked? It'd stand to reason that iTunes would be the bridge seeing as it's apparently going to work with Windows machines too. Or am I mistaken? I'm just a user not a developer so I haven't had any of the pre-release builds, just using a bit of logic (that may be wrong lol).

-The last 2 files will need to replace the existing ones.-Reboot -Delete your printer from Print and Fax settings from System Preferences.-Add your printer again from Print and Fax settings panel.-Enjoy!"